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Curb your food cravings: chocolate, potato chips, cookies, fries … they all thwart your weight-loss efforts. Here's how to short-circuit your cravings for high-calorie foods - Nutrition

Shape, Jan, 2003 by Annie Murphy Paul

It's 4 p.m. Your workday is almost done. You're not really hungry, but like yesterday, same time, you've got a hankering for some chocolate. Not just any chocolate, but a Nestle Crunch. So you head over to the office vending machine, drop in a few coins ... and just like that, your well-intentioned efforts to regularly eat only healthy, weight-loss-friendly foods are foiled -- again.

You're not alone. Many women routinely experience sudden and irresistible food cravings for potato chips, ice cream, cookies and, yes, chocolate. Just what triggers these overpowering desires for certain foods?

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"Cravings are a natural part of our relationship to food," says Harvey Weingarten, Ph.D., the president and vice-chancellor of the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, who has conducted extensive research on food cravings. According to Weingarten's research, up to 97 percent of women have felt cravings (compared to 68 percent of men), and we give in to our urges at least half the time. There's a big difference between cravings and hunger pangs. "When you're hungry, you'll eat anything," Weingarten points out. "Cravings are very specific. People crave a certain type of food, like chips or chocolate -- and within that category, even a particular brand."

Though cravings seem to overtake us without warning and without reason, research shows that they are actually very predictable, arriving at particular times and in particular situations.

When your cravings hit

You've probably noticed that you feel your strongest food yens at specific times of the day -- or month. Here are the whens and the whys of cravings:

* During the midafternoon slump (from about 3-6 p.m.) "By far the greatest number of cravings occur late in the day," says Marcia Levin Pelchat, Ph.D., of the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, an institute that does research on taste and food preferences. "That's when our blood glucose drops, making us sluggish and in need of a lift" All it takes now is a cue -- a fast-food billboard on your way home or a co-worker's candy bar -- to bring on a major craving.

* When we're stressed out, upset or bored Bad moods frequently give rise to cravings: We imagine that if we eat a cookie or a chocolate bar, we'll feel better -- and often we do. Carbohydrates sweet or starchy foods -- increase the secretion of the brain chemical serotonin, which in turn can improve mood.

* Before your period Research shows that many of our cravings for chocolate and carbohydrate-rich foods are particularly intense in the days leading up to menstruation. Experts theorize that women may overeat carbs in an attempt to raise serotonin levels to counter the bad moods and mild depression related to PMS.

Also, we actually need more calories premenstrually, so it would make sense we might experience more cravings if we're short on energy. Although there have been a number of studies examining cravings and the menstrual cycle, scientists still don't know exactly why some women crave carbs, chocolate and other sugary foods before their periods.

* When it's cold and dark out Short, wintry days can make us crave carbs like bread and pasta. People who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (aka SAD, which is depression related to diminished sunlight-exposure) may be especially affected and crave carb-rich foods to help themselves feel better.

* When we're accustomed to eating Brian Wansink, Ph.D., a professor of nutritional science and marketing at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who runs the university's Food and Brand Lab, has found that we often crave foods with associations to happy times we've had in the past. When we're at the ballpark, for example, we might crave a hot dog with the works; if a summer-night trip to the ice-cream parlor was a family tradition, we may find ourselves craving an ice-cream cone when the weather gets warm.

How to manage your cravings

Forewarned is forearmed: If you know a food craving is going to strike, you can substitute something -- a healthier snack, a distraction, even a well-planned breakfast or lunch -- rather than regularly surrendering. Here are proven methods to help tame your cravings:

* Eat carbs, protein and a little fat at every meal and snack. When we eat meals that are lacking in one kind of food, we may be more likely to crave it later -- something for dieters on high-protein, low-carb regimens to keep in mind. Eating a varied diet, you'll feel better and have more energy and better concentration. Protein and fat take longer to digest than carbs do, so including them, along with more fiber, in any meal means that you'll feel satisfied longer. When our meals are monotonous -- the same day after day -- we're practically guaranteed powerful cravings. "That's true even if your diet is nutritionally adequate," says Marcia Levin Pelchat, Ph.D.

Too often we'll skip breakfast or forget about lunch, only to feel a craving strike later in the day. Think ahead and plan a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner that consist of carbohydrates, protein and good fats. Your snacks, too, should be a combination of protein, carbs and a little fat, especially in the late afternoon, when cravings seem most urgent. Any of the following snacks can fend off a trip to the candy machine: whole-wheat pita bread with hummus; a pear with lowfat cheese slices; a quesadilla (made with a whole-wheat tortilla); raw veggies with lowfat cottage cheese; wholewheat crackers with peanut butter.

Curb your food cravings: chocolate, potato chips, cookies, fries … they all thwart your weight-loss efforts. Here's how to short-circuit your cravings for high-calorie foods - Nutrition

Shape, Jan, 2003 by Annie Murphy Paul

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